


The Lesson

by Happyorogeny



Series: The Wardens [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen, Intimidation, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Imprisonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 15:49:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happyorogeny/pseuds/Happyorogeny
Summary: Maiev teaches her new wardens patience, and how to endure distractions.





	The Lesson

Maiev decided she was going to have a bit of fun.

The Broken Isles were dark and the night was filled with fog. She taught her newest wardens how to wait. This was no easy thing, to remain as still as a stone for hours on end. But it was an essential skill in a warden’s arsenal. She had to know how to blend into the background as she awaited her prey.

But the sight of them had attracted some unwelcome attention.

Her new wardens stood side by side and she was almost happy. Four of them, fully armoured! She hadn’t dared hope that they could return again as a force in the world. But lo! They came seeking justice and she trained them. Now, she taught them to bear the weight of the armour, both upon the body and upon the mind.

Here, she had them stand and watch the road. A watcher had to learn how to watch. A warden had to learn how to wait.

And how to endure distraction. 

“That’s not a real person.” The demon hunter stuck his tongue out like a cat trying to scent the air. Green runes curled back into his throat. Were those really necessary or was it simple machismo?

“She’s just standing real still.” The woman was a little more cautious, having climbed into a nearby tree so as to have height on them. She looked like she had been pretty, before the corruption.

“That’s a statue.” The man was an idiot.

She didn’t recognise them. Illidan had somehow lured a few more fools into his service. 

_You have all been led astray._

“Touch it then.” That was from another woman, who’d trotted over to inspect Ka’ri. Her wings hung limp from her back, strangely pallid and wickedly barbed. Maiev could smell the poison dripping clear off the barbs, hear it sizzle as it tickled into the dirt. The demon hunter didn’t seem to notice. 

Ka’ri was handling it well, remaining very still and quiet. An impressive feat considering she had lost a sister into Illidan’s ranks many years ago.

“I’m not touching it, you touch it.” The man shuffled back from her and looked over his shoulder into the fog. “Where’s Kor’vas?”

Demon hunters had a distinctive appearance when fresh from their harrowing. The tattoos gleamed too bright and their flesh looked somehow fragile, as if barely present in this world. Their skin shimmered with green-tinted sweat and their bodies roiled with a constant low fever as they tried to adjust to chaotic fel energies.

No wonder half of them ran mad. 

These three were too young and foolish to know to keep their distance from her. They hadn’t been amidst those she imprisoned. She could have had them where they stood. 

“I bet it’s a scarecrow. I bet it’s just some old armour on a stick.”

One of the women looked thoughtful. 

“Hey, what do you call a one-legged warden?”

_Bait,_ Maiev thought. Delia'la had been so fashioned by fate and often pretended to be injured so as to lure their quarry into a trap.

“It doesn’t matter what you call her because she can’t catch you anyway.”

_She can if she’s clever._

Maiev allowed herself some amusement and turned her head to look at them. They shrieked and scattered into the fog. 

Her new wardens didn’t even snicker. She was pleased.

A shadow loomed overhead. Not big enough to be Illidan. Maiev remained still as one of the elder hunters glided down out of the heavy mists, the wind whistling over her wings. 

Kor’vas shot the wardens a scathing look as she landed. Two of the younger hunters appeared behind her, careful to keep Kor'vas between themselves and Maiev.

“Lyla, stretch those wings. You want them to fall off?”

Kor'vas was easily one of the largest Illidari, almost as stocky as Maiev herself. Her shoulders and arms were lined with a series of short jagged barbs that made grabbing and holding her almost impossible. Kor'vas had tried to attack her when she released them from their prisons, only to be held back by the two big males.

She flattened her ears at them and turned to the younger demon hunters, chivvying them along. 

“Come. Some of us can’t waste time staring at an empty road.”

Maiev shifted her weight almost imperceptibly and watched how the neophytes flinched, how Kor’vas reached for her weapon. They could be intimidated, Kor’vas could be goaded. 

A second shadow brushed over them. Asha was near silent on the wing and landed as soft as a whisper, putting herself firmly between the wardens and the Illidari.

“We are needed elsewhere.”

Asha had come to her after the loss of her husband in a satyr raid, weeping and still stinking of his blood. She had declared herself determined to become a sister-warden, to be strong enough to protect the innocent. Maiev had sent her away. A woman needed time to grieve and a warden had to be steady.

Instead, Asha had found her way to Outland in the intervening years. 

A pity. Maiev had seen her face down felguard and doomlords alone, and she was almost fast enough to outrun them. Asha would have made a good warden, if only she had patience. 

She would have to focus the elders down first, when they imprisoned the demon hunters once more. 

Maiev was quite sure it would come to that. They modeled themselves after Illidan. They would do as they pleased and claim it was necessary. Inevitably, they would go too far. Then, the wardens would have to step in. 

A part of her wanted to be wrong. A part of her knew she was right. 

Her girls hadn’t moved a muscle. And now they knew a so-called demon hunter wasn’t beyond intimidation. She almost smiled.

“Well done.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this work, check out the rest of my writing and find me at https://happyorogeny.tumblr.com/writing


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